iPhone 7

Apple's iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were announced on 7th September 2016

There were few surprises. As expected, the phone was an iteration on the previous iPhone 6/6s, though with tidier antenna lines and camera bump. The only significant design change was two new colors, in the form of a high-gloss Jet Black and a matte black simply known as … Black.

Also as expected, Apple removed the 3.5mm headphone socket in favor of Lightning and wireless headphones – though with an adapter in the box for existing 3.5mm headphones. The company justified the move on the basis that it had better uses for the space, notably the haptic motor for a new touch-sensitive Home key to aid waterproofing, and a better camera, especially in the iPhone 7 Plus. More notably, it announced a new W1 wireless chip for instant, painless pairing with compatible headphones, the pairing propagating across all your devices via iCloud.

The headline new feature was, as predicted, reserved for the iPhone 7 Plus. The dual-camera system provides 2x optical zoom, and uses a combination of parallax effect and machine-learning to separate the foreground from the background to simulate shallow depth of field.

Apple has responded to a microphone issue affecting some iPhone 7 and 7 Plus units with a new service guide. The document obtained by 9to5Mac also mentions that out-out-warranty devices may still be able to receive a repair or replacement for free.

Samsung has just launched its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S9/S9+, and an early reviewer has been putting it through its paces in a series of benchmark tests. The news isn’t good for the Korean brand …

Apple today has launched an official repair program for a small number of users experiencing an issue where their iPhone says “No Service”. This issue seems to be specific to the iPhone 7, according to Apple.

The Financial Times reports that Qualcomm could face up to a $2 billion fine from a European watchdog for having an anticompetitive chip deal with Apple. The watchdog says that it will sue Qualcomm for paying Apple to buy all of its communication chipsets between 2011 and 2016.

A new research note from Counterpoint shows that whilst Apple’s dominance in China is not as high as its peak, it is the only foreign smartphone brand that matters in the region. iPhone 7 Plus was the no.2 best selling handset across all of 2017, and the smaller iPhone 7 took fifth place (via CNBC).

China’s propensity towards larger-screened phones is shown by the Plus’ popularity compared to the regular iPhone 7. Apple was the only foreign brand to feature in the top 10 phone models, with 5.2% total market share from both iPhone 7 models.